Piano.



V. BESSIER.

PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED M1612. 191s.

1,251,174. Patented Dec. 25,1917.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

VETAL BESSIER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PIANO.

Application led August 22, 1916.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, VETAL BEssLER, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Pianos, ofwhich the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to upright pianos, and its object is to provide anew and iniproved note and sounding board extension arranged to permitthe use of additional strings in the treble and to increase the soundingarea of the sounding board at the treble with a view to insure a fullerand clearer tone on sounding the treble strings and withoutresorting toan increase in the size of the frame and string plate.

In order to accomplish the desired result, use is made of a frame havinga wrest plank provided along its inner edge at the treble with a cut-outportion, and a sounding board attached to the frame and having a topextension at the treble, the top extension extending into the saidcut-out portion of the wrest plank.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

Figure 1 is a face view of the string plate overlying the soundingboa-rd attached to the frame with the sides of the casing shown insection;

Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same with the casing side removed;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view of the same on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;and

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the same on the line 4--4 of Fig. 1.

The sounding board 10 is attached to the frame 11 and the string plate12 overlies the sounding board 10. The frame 11 is pro- 1vided with awrest plank 13 having a cut-out portion 14 extending along its inneredge at the treble portion of the piano to receive a correspondingextension 15 of the sounding board 10, thus increasing the area of thesounding board at the upper end thereof. The side 16 of the frame 11 atthe treble side of the piano is provided with an outward extension 17and the sounding board 10 is provided at the right-hand side with anextension 18 overlying the extension 17 of the side 16 thus ncreasingthesize of the sound- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 25, 1917.

serial No. 116,276.

ing board 10 at the treble side. The side 16 is eut away or beveled atthe extended portion 17 (see Fig. 3) so that the outer edge of theextension 18 of the sounding board rests on the extension 17. The lowerportion of lthe string plate 12 is provided at the right-hand side withan extension 19 overlying the lower extension portion 18 of the soundingboard 10. The extended portions 17, 18 and 19 of the side 16, thesounding board 10 and the string plate 12 fit into a recess 20 formed inthe inner face of the right-hand side 21 of the piano easing thusaccommodating the said extensions without increasing the size of thepiano.

It will be noticed that by the arrangement described, the bridge 22 ofthe sounding board 10 can be extended at the treble side thereoic so asto terminate at the outermost rib 25 o1 the string plate 12 and this rib25 lies close to the inner face of the side 21 of the piano casing.

By the arrangement described, at least, two additional treble strings 30can be accommodated thus increasing the piano from eighty-eight notes toninety notes. The treble strings including` the additional treblestrings are attached at their lower ends to the usual pins 31 on thelower portion of the string plate 12 and the upper ends of the saidtreble strings engage the tuning pins32 extending through the upperportion of the string plate 12 and engaging the wrest plank 13 near theupper end thereof. By reference to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be noticedthat the treble strings pass over the l scale rib 43 and are pressedinto firm contact therewith by the press bar 44, and the treble stringportion of the bar 43 is located opposite the beginning of the upperextension 15 of the sounding board 10. Thus the upper treble stringportions extending from the scale rib 43 to the tuning pins 32 extendopposite the top extension 15 of the sounding board. From the foregoingit will be seen that the area of the sounding board is increased at thetreble and to such an eX- tent as to insure better tonal qualities whenthe treble strings are sounded. The string plate 12 is provided with anopening 46 directly above the scale rib 43.

In order to prevent the string plate 12 from warping use is made of oneor more braces or posts 40 connecting the frame 11 with the back of thestring plate 12. The post 40 extends through au opening 41 formed in theSounding board 10 and a bolt 42 preferably extends through the post l0and engages the frame 11 and the string plate to securely fasten theparts together. The post 40 is preferably located opposite the scale rib43 of the string plate 12.

Having thus describeC my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

l. In an upright piano, the combination of a frame having a sideextension at the treble and having a Wrest plank provided along itsinner edge at the treble With a cut-out portion, and a sounding boardattached to the said frainc and having side and top extensions at thetreble, the Side extension extending over the said frame side extensionand the top extension extending into the said cut-out portion of theWrest plank.

2. In an upright piano, the combination of a frame having a sideextension at the treble and having a wrest plank provided along itsinner edge at the treble with a cutout portion, a sounding boardattached to the said frame and having side and top extensions at thetreble,.the side extension extending over the said frame side extensionand the top extension extending into the said cut-out portion of theWrest plank, and a casing having its side at the treble provided at itsinner face With a recess for the reception of the side extensions of thesaid frame and Sounding board.

3. In an upright piano, the combination of a frame having a sideextension at the treble and having a Wrest plank provided along itsinner edge at the treble with a cutout portion, and a sounding-boardattached to the said frame and having Side and top extensions at thetreble, the side extension extending over the said frame side extensionandthe top extension extending into the said cut-out portion of theWrest plank, the said Sounding board having a bridge, the treble portionof which extends onto the side extension of the Sounding board farenough to accommodate at least one additional treble String.

4t. In an upright piano, the combination of a frame having a sideextension at the treble and having a wrest plank provided along itsinner edge at the treble with a cutout portion, a sounding boardattached to the said frame and having side and top extensions at thetreble. the side extension extending'- over the said frame sideextension and the top extension extending into the said eut-out portionof the Wrest plank, and a string plate overlying` the sounding board andframe and having an extension at the treble side overlying the said sideextension of thesounding board.

VE'IAL BESSIER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. Y

